Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Advice for the Twin Mom- Take It or Leave It...3-6 months

3-6 Months

By the time your twins are 3-6 months old, you should have pretty good routine down. This does NOT mean that every day is scheduled out perfectly, but you understand your babies more, and you know how to best comfort them and deal with them!

The 3-6 month mark is full of new firsts! One of these is eating cereal and baby food!


It is so much fun to watch a baby eat cereal for the first time. They are not quite sure what is in their mouth, and therefore, they will spit most of it out! You have to be patient and persistent because your babies have to figure out how to use their tongue to move stuff into the back of their mouths and swallow.
Here's Levi trying to figure it out.

Will was not a big fan of rice cereal unless it had taste to it. (I don't blame him!) So we started our boys on baby food in the rice cereal pretty quickly (5 months old). They both loved bananas, carrots, sweet taters, and squash. We would use our bumbos as their feeding chairs early on. The bumbos are super easy to clean, and it holds them up in the right position.

* While we are on the subject of eating...here are some great bibs. They have a pocket at the bottom to catch 'leftovers' and they are thicker and sturdier than other bibs I have seen, but they are not hard plastic. They have easy snaps (no velcro). These that I have come from Wal-Mart. My sister-in-law found them, and she is really good at finding great, practical, cheap items!



Moving on.....

The Exersaucer!!!
Once your baby can sit up fairly well, you should invest in an exersaucer. This thing was a lifesaver because it was one of the things that Will loved!
Here are my two warnings:
Warning #1: Babies love to have explosive diapers in the exersaucer. For some reason, our boys would always have major blowouts when they were playing in the saucer. So be prepared!
See....that's poop. Will had been playing in it for quite sometime before Zach noticed. oops!

Warning #2: The boys never liked the saucer at first. They would look up at the bar with the hanging toys and scream. It wasn't until after I removed the hanging toys bar that they loved it! So, if your baby seems freaked out and over stimulated, just remove the hanging toy bar!


* If you are having trouble getting your baby to take a nap, never forget the 'ole bouncer seat on the dryer trick! Worked every time with Will.

* If you are in to camping, then now is a great time to go on a camping trip! Your babies aren't crawling yet, so you don't have to worry about that aspect of things. (Crawling into the fire, getting into ants, wanting to eat leaves, etc...) Plus, most babies LOVE the outdoors, so you are almost guaranteed happy babies most of the time! It helps to find a group to go camping with. That way, you have plenty of help when your husband wants to go canoing, or hiking, or play football with the other guys...not that I have dealt with any of those things...
- Just remember to pack clothes thinking 'layers'. It can get hot during the day and cool during the night.
- Bring plenty of wipes because you will use those for regular cleanups that you might have taken care of with a sink at home.
- Bring your monitors so that you can take a short walk or sit by the fire while your little ones are sleeping.
- We brought our bumbos & a travel swing to keep the boys entertained and off the dirt.

- Sunscreen, stroller, hiking pack or front carrier, and camera are a must!
- And remember to have fun! Camping is fun! Especially when you are borrowing your grandparents pop-up camper and your parents are there to help....


OK, that's all I can think of for now!

I just started writing the next part of How I Became a Sheets. It's making me laugh out loud as I type it, so hopefully you will be doing the same! It's a long one, so hopefully I will have it up by the end of the week!

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2 comments:

Kathy said...

Your pictures on this entry disappeared... weird.

Good advice, but you need to add, "be sure to let the grandparents visiting a lot"!

Kara said...

good point mom!

i have noticed the picture thing too, but i thought it was just my computer. i'll have to re-upload and try again. weird!